Expectations are high around the Washington State University football camp as the Cougars prepare for the season opener Thursday against visiting Idaho. Cougar coaches and players alike believe WSU, coming off a 5-6 season, will be back in the hunt for a postseason bowl game berth.

The Cougars were bowl bound for three straight years, 2001, 2002 and 2003, before being sidelined last year .
Game time Thursday for the Labor Day weekend nonconference game will be 7 p.m., with FSN Northwest on hand to televise the game.

FSN'S CELLINI, RYPIEN CALL IDAHO GAME: Rich Cellini will be on hand Thursday to call the action of the WSU-Idaho football game for FSN Northwest, while Cougar great Mark Rypien will provide the commentary...FSN will go on the air at 6:30 p.m. with FSN Live and then begin game coverage with the kickoff at 7 p.m....FSN does not plan to provide game replays this fall for any of the Pacific Northwest teams.

COUGS OPEN 2006 AT AUBURN: Washington State and the Auburn Tigers will open their respective seasons next fall in a game to be televised by ESPN...the game will be played at Auburn and does not have a return game in the deal, which was put together for national television...the two teams have not previously met on the gridiron.

WSU GAMES TELEVISED BY ABC, FSN AND ESPN: Five Cougar football games have already been chosen for live television coverage this fall, starting with Thursday's WSU-Idaho opener on FSN Northwest...ESPN will be on hand a week later to televise the Cougar game at Nevada, beginning at 7 p.m....ABC selected WSU's Pacific-10 Conference game at USC as its Pac-10 game of the week...kickoff time at Los Angeles will be 12:30 p.m....at the end of the regular season, FSN will be on hand to televise WSU's home game with Oregon at 7:15 p.m. and then the annual Apple Cup battle with Washington from Seattle at 12:15 p.m....additional Pac-10 games could be chosen for live TV coverage, either 12 or six days in advance of the game, per the Pac-10 television contract.

BRINK WINS QB JOB: Sophomore Alex Brink was named WSU's starting quarterback Aug. 23...Brink's performance throughout nearly three weeks of fall camp boosted him past junior Josh Swogger, who had been listed the starter going into August practices...Swogger started the first six games in 2004, but then was sidelined with a broken foot...Brink finished up the season and helped guide WSU to wins over UCLA and Washington..."We have two very good quarterbacks and history says we will need two," said Bill Doba.

FRESHMAN AHMU TO START AT DT: Last year WSU started a pair of freshman defensive tackles, redshirt freshman Aaron Johnson and gray-shirt freshman Ropati Pituotua...with Pitoitua now out for six-eight weeks with a broken bone in his right leg, WSU is against turning to a freshman, Fevaea'i (A'i) Ahmu (pronounced Ah-ee Ah-moo)...the 6-1, 284-pound first-year player is from Serra High in San Diego..."He has instincts at defensive tackle like Will Derting does at linebacker, he has a nose for the football," says WSU Head Coach Bill Doba.